Bat Tales: A Sticky Situation
by Andrew Joshua Talon
Summary: Tokyo 2040 fic If you send an AD Policeman a Bat suit in the mail, what happens? You're about to find out...


* * *

"Oh no," Talon groaned, as he saw his muse Musey wrapping something in brown paper. "What are you doing now?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting ready to send something in the mail," Musey grinned, finishing her wrapping and attaching a note to the package. Talon rolled his eyes, before going over to look into his artificial Mimir Well again.

"Fine, fine… Hey wait! What the hell are you-!" Musey had dropped her package into the Well, and was now cheerfully leaning over and watching the outcome. She smirked at the gawking Talon.

"It's simple, Talon… I'm sending someone something in the mail… In a Bubblegum Crisis: 2040 time stream." Musey shrugged. "It's not like I lied."

"I'm starting to wish you had," Talon grumbled. "So… What was in that package?"

* * *

BAT TALES 2

"A Sticky Situation"

Bubblegum Crisis: 2040, Batman Beyond, Batman, and all other assorted characters and/or names do not belong to me. This is just a fan work.

* * *

Officer Leon McNichol was hoping after coming home from a _long_ shift with the AD Police to just lay down on the couch and crash into dreamland. The twenty-four year old detective was just plain exhausted-Seeing the Knight Sabers making them look like total amateurs was _not_ something he wanted to dwell on.

"Hey, McNichol! Mail!" His landlady called, tossing him a package as he came in the door of the lobby. He caught it automatically, mumbled something which may have been a thank you or something vulgar, before trudging to the elevator and hitting the button for his floor.

He stumbled tiredly into his apartment a few minutes later, kicking the door shut behind him. He collapsed onto the couch, not bothering to turn on any lights. Grumbling, he tore open the package, revealing a cardboard box with a note attached.

"Lights," he ordered dully, and the apartment lit up as he tore open the letter and unfolded it. _Who uses paper anymore?_ He dully thought, as he began to read.

Dear Detective McNichols,

In my old age, I have seen fit to begin watching and observing those whom, in my opinion, will have great influence on the future of our city, if not the world. It has come to my attention that you will be one of those people. One who has the opportunity to shape the world.

Mindful of this, I have sent you something that I believe you will find very useful in the times ahead. Additional items that will assist you are being sent to your partner, a Detective Daley Wong.

I ask that you use your common sense in how you use these gifts. I ask that you remember that the legacy of these items, though fictional, is a legacy of honor, justice, and courage. Why I chose you to carry this burden, you will doubtless ask, but I believe you will learn in time why I chose you.

Leon blinked.

"What the hell is this crap?" He muttered, as he pulled open the box. Staring, he placed his fingers on the contents. It felt like thick silk, polyester, cotton, and Kevlar, all at the same time. He lifted the cloth and stared at the bright red Bat silhouette. He unfolded the garment completely, and stared into the white eye covers of the bat-eared cowl. His eyes widened.

Beep beep beep beep beep!

"Yes?" Leon answered his cell phone.

"_Leon_," began the voice of his partner, Daley Wong, "_can you explain why I got a super-advanced, black, hover craft in the mail today?"_

Leon blinked, and looked over the Bat suit again.

"I might have a hunch…"

* * *

The latest rogue Boomer attack had left the Knightsabers in the AD Police's usual shoes-That is, feeling totally and completely inadequate. In the mobile Pit, Sylia sighed and leaned back in her chair, as she looked over her girls, all in their skimpy skin suits and all looking exhausted.

"All right… Nene? What do you know about this 'Batman'?" The silver-haired heiress asked. The blonde hacker shrugged.

"The normal police have reported seeing him for weeks now… As have the AD Police. Let's see," Nene quickly typed on a nearby computer terminal, processing the data before her.

"Batman has apparently foiled fifty robberies, fifty-two attempted murders, three assassination attempts, and seven rogue boomers. This isn't counting all the minor gangs he's busted, or the car thieves." Nene shrugged.

"Busy guy," quipped Priss. Sylia frowned, looking thoughtful, while Linna shrugged.

"What? So what if he's… Ya know… Fighting crime and all that." She shrugged again, this particular boomer having given her a real workout. "Less boomers for us to deal with, right?"

"The problem, Linna, is that we don't know who he works for," Sylia stated. "He could very well be a GENOM operative."

"Trying to lead us out into the open, maybe?" Priss suggested. Nene shook her head.

"Even GENOM's got nothing like his suit. I mean… I _saw_ some of the stuff he was packing." Nene leaned back and began counting her fingers.

"Jet boot rockets, with an endurance beyond even military models… Some kind of nano-pocket deployment technology for those batarangs and cutting disks of his… Clearly, strength equal to our hard suits, if not greater…"

"Not to mention that his suit looked a lot thinner than ours," Linna added. She then flushed slightly. "A _lot_ thinner."

"It was," Nene stated. "I'm guessing it uses artificial muscle motors to increase his strength, speed, agility, and endurance. But, even the latest research models I've hacked are at least five times thicker than what I saw."

"So, we've got some vigilante dressed in a suit _lightyears_ ahead of even ours running around," Priss summarized," and we have no idea who it is or what, or even why he's doing it."

Sylia leaned back in her chair, thoughtful. She then turned to Nene.

"Nene, keep trying to hack into any experimental laboratories that have been working on anything, even remotely, related to what we saw Batman use. We need to find out who he is…"

"Before he finds us out," Priss offered. "Considering that he could probably kick our butts."

* * *

In another black van, not too far away from Sylia's mobile pit…

"OUCH! Damnit, Daley, would you be more careful!"

"Sorry, _Leon-poo_, but this cut is pretty deep," Wong sighed, as he swabbed the slash on Leon's arm. Leon grumbled, wearing the entire Batsuit save the cowl (resting on the table nearby) and his left glove, the sleeve of the suit rolled up.

"Yeah, I know… I thought the nanotube fibers would protect me from a slash like that?" Leon mused. Daley sighed.

"It should have… I'll have to take a look at the suit when we get back to base." He looked up, smirking. "Speaking of which… The Captain wanted to talk to you."

"About?"

"This case you've been working on," Wong said casually. "Correction-That we've been working on. All the crime lab files from this Yakuza murder are out of our jurisdiction as AD Police officers."

"I told him they were related to the Knightsabers," Leon grumped. "If the Knightsabers are provoking boomers into going rogue, then it's our jurisdiction."

"Uh huh," Wong noted, unconvinced. "I'm starting to think he's beginning to suspect something." He raised an eyebrow at his partner. "You haven't been keeping as low a profile as you could."

"What do you mean?"

"Somehow, I don't think that the chief bought your bathroom excuse when that psycho started shooting up the Totem Pole, and Batman came in just after you left."

"You're probably right. He's old, but he's certainly not dense," Leon sighed. "Maybe we'll have to tell him…"

"I'm not sure if he's Commissioner Gordon material," Daley pointed out. Leon shrugged.

"It's that, or he catches us. And he'll be in a _lot_ worse mood if he catches us." Daley smirked.

"Point."

* * *

"Okay… So, you turned Leon into Batman, and Daley into Alfred," Talon began. "Whoopie. I still don't see how much of a divergence this causes." Musey smirked at his skeptical expression.

"Just wait… After Leon figures out who the Knightsabers are, _and_ Galatea is freed…"

* * *

The four, hard suit-less Knightsabers found themselves in a black van parked near the tunnel where GENOM had just unleashed the Sotai, or Galatea. Sylia was unresponsive, staring into nothing on an examination table, while Priss, Linna, and Nene shivered slightly on a bench. Before them, even more intimidating when they didn't have their hard suits between themselves and him, stood Batman, staring at them. Priss glared up defiantly at him.

"So… What now? Gonna turn us all in to your bosses?"

"I'm my own boss," Batman answered flatly. Nene frowned.

"… Leon?" She asked, blinking. Batman's eyes widened slightly, before narrowing again. With a sigh, he pulled his mask off. Priss gaped, Linna gasped, and Nene blinked.

"How long?" Leon asked the blonde. Nene shrugged, looking down.

"… Something in the voice," she admitted. "I… Suspected it… All your absences… A few hints…" Nene blinked and looked at Leon seriously.

"Plus, your shadow… What's up with that? How can you make your shadow have pointed ears!" Nene grinned slightly. "That's so cool! How'd you do it?"

"Practice," Leon deadpanned, looking at Priss. The singer harrumphed, crossing her arms over her chest. Linna frowned.

"But, you're with the AD Police? Why are you-?"

"Because there's something a hell of a lot bigger going on here than what the Knightsabers have been doing," Leon stated. "GENOM's got the Sotai… Whatever that is… I think we have a much better chance of stopping it, if we work together." Leon shrugged. "We're on a level playing field now. You know who I am, I know who you are."

At that moment, the hatch of the van opened, and a man dressed in AD Police battle gear stumbled in, carrying the unconscious Macky.

"Mackey!" Nene cried, moving to take him from the covered man. He stared at Nene for a moment, before looking over to the maskless Leon.

"_Do I have to take my mask off too?"_ He whined.

"Daley," Leon growled. Wong sighed, before pulling off his helmet.

"Well, if you put it that way," the blonde detective noted with a wry smile. "So… The Knightsabers meet Batman… And his trusty compatriot, Alfred."

"Alfred?" Linna asked. "Isn't your name Daley?" Wong and Leon stared at her.

"Forgive her," Priss opined, "she's lived on a farm her whole life."

"Hey!"

Daley raised an eyebrow, and smiled suggestively at the now blushing Linna.

"Really? I also grew up on a farm…" His smile grew. "Perhaps we could share our experiences together?"

"Well, um," Linna began, flustered. Priss chuckled.

"Cut the playboy mode for now, _Alfred,_" Leon stated flatly. "We've got work to do."

* * *

Dun dun dunnnn!

Be warned: This fic WILL have spoilers if you haven't watched all of Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040. Just to warn you.


End file.
